The taking of the customs of Tamaulipas ...

The taking of the customs of Tamaulipas ...

by Omar Sánchez de Tagle

The situation in the customs in Tamaulipas has worried the authorities of the Attorney General's Office (PGR) and the State Government, since since last September there are indications that the Gulf Cartel controls the passage of legal and illegal goods, mainly on the bridges of Matamoros.

According to federal investigations, this organization has diversified its business and not only continues trafficking drugs, kidnapping and extorting merchants and businessmen in the region. Now its leaders have found in the customs of Tamaulipas a new modus operandi to extort and control much of the merchandise crossing.

The investigations of the PGR are in addition to those of the US authorities, who also detected that the members of the Gulf Cartel managed to corrupt the officials of that country, to return them from their structure and thus operate the extortions in the customs.

One of the responsible of this modality and that brings the control of customs officials is Carlos Martínez alias El Cuate , whom the authorities of the DEA have identified as the son-in-law of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, founder of the Gulf Cartel.

The Cuate , detail the first investigators, is the one who is in charge of extorting the customs agents of Tamaulipas, mainly they indicate it as the one that controls one of the four most important bridges of Matamoros, it is the bridge known as Los Indios.

It is through this point that the organization, which he also leads along with other leaders, gets employers to pay him fees when they cross merchandise ranging from electronic devices, clothing, stolen fuel, cars and, of course, using for the transfer of drugs.

It is also known, from the information that the DEA even provided, that among the main operators of El Cuate are Rigoberto Brown, nephew of Cárdenas Guillén and who has an arrest warrant for the United States, in addition to Rigoberto Castorena Cantú , his brother-in-law.

In the open investigation folders it is explained that to operate in the customs, the son-in-law of Osiel Cárdenas has managed to create an important group of smugglers that manage to filter themselves as businessmen and even politicians of the region.

Of these characters, federal authorities are already investigating names such as Luis Biasi, Jesus Jiraudini, alias El Chuy, and his nephew Oscar Jiraudini, the latter identified as the one in charge of controlling all the bridges from Reynosa to Matamoros, and it is known that he works under the orders of the sister of Osiel Cárdenas.

The investigations of the PGR began after they received various complaints from employers who detailed that the crossing of any merchandise, container or order has a fee of $ 300, which is paid to organized crime.

Three hundred dollars that for months has been paid as an extortion fee by every legal importer for each crossing or request made. These investigations have been integrated for at least six months; if not concluded, not only increased extortion, but violence in the customs, as other groups began to see the business it means.